Sarah Ferguson and her judgement into business ventures has been questioned after her pal’s app, which she called herself an ‘ambassador’ for, flopped
Sarah Ferguson backed an app that had more than £1million of taxpayers’ money go into it, but the product never even launched.
Lifestyle app vVoosh, founded by Fergie’s close pal Manuel Fernandez, had said it would give users “the power to Find, Plan, Share, Live, and Remember all the things you love to do – and those you’re yet to try”. Despite this and the huge investments that were pumped into the company, vVoosh was put into administration last month. Fergie previously called herself an “ambassador” for the business and had even been an investor herself.
This comes as another huge blow to Fergie, who has lost her title of Duchess and her home of two decades.
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Fernandez went to school at Billericay in Essex and was a soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment before working at several tech companies, according to his LinkedIn page.
He founded his lifestyle app vVoosh in 2010 and raised nearly £9million in funding over several years. The £1million of taxpayer’s money came through the government’s research and development tax credits, according to documents filed by the administrator seen by the BBC.
Teams in both India and the UK were paid to work on the idea but no products were ever launched on the app. Work reportedly came to a halt when the Indian contractor threatened the company with legal action.
According to the report, there was a “breakdown in communication between the current directors/major creditors and the founder [Mr Fernandez], who ceased communication following [his] resignation as a director earlier in the year”.
The administrator’s report also said that a former director owes the company £324,609. Fernandez has been the only director to leave the business since 2019, but the report did not say was.
Reports also showed the company had more than 60 smaller shareholders, with many based in London, Essex and the US. The administrators report said there was “significant uncertainty” about how much money these people would get back.
One American investor, Mark Guzy, said he put over £400,000 into the company. vVoosh had previously also said it would give 10% of its profits to charity.
Documents also revealed vVoosh also owned one of Fergie’s companies, La Luna Investments, £50,000 because of its less than 1% share in the lifestyle app.
Fernandez lived in a £1.3million North London home but sold the property last summer. It is reportedly thought he may have left the UK.
Fergie and Fernandez sparked romance rumours after they were seen regularly seen together at events in 2015 and 2016. Ferguson denied they were dating and said they were close friends. They had even attended Sir Bob Geldof’s wedding together.
